(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computing devices, and more particularly to a computing device housed in a master enclosure and at least a secondary enclosure.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A general computing device such as a common desktop computer usually has its main components such as the motherboard, power supply, adaptor card, hard disk drive, and optical disk drive, housed in an enclosure, and has its input/output devices such as the monitor, keyboard, and mouse externally connected to the enclosure and the components inside the main enclosure. In recent years, the line drawn between a computer and a home appliance is getting blurred. For example, most computers now could play DVD disk and show the content of the DVD disk on the computer's monitor. And there are digital recording appliances that could save the recorded programs in an internal hard disk drive. It would therefore naturally occur to people that some form of resource sharing between a computer and an appliance, if possible, would definitely be quite convenient and economical. For example, a single DVD drive is connected to both a computer and a TV for playing the content of a DVD either on the computer's monitor or on the TV. Similarly, a digital recording appliance could save its recording on a computer's hard disk, instead of its own internal hard disk.
The redundant investment on same hardware components would get worse as there are more computers, each having its own dedicated resources such as the DVD player and the hard disk drive. However, the conventional way of housing a computer inherently prevents its sharing resources with other computers or appliances. The conventional single-enclosure housing is also very bulky to sit in the living room of a household and does not quite fit in the decoration of the living room.